I want to keep the rules fairly loose, being this is relatively new to most people, but essentially there are two phases to the game. Overt actions and covert actions. Generally, once or twice a week, everyone will post an action summary (in one big post, I will create an example of this). The actions you can take are limited only your imagination. If you want to build economically, it’s up to you to decide how that might best be accomplished for your country. If you want to build a massive military, it’s up to you to decide how that might best be accomplished.

Of course, this is impossible without someone deciding if this is successful or not, which is the role I will essentially be playing. Normally, as I’ve done this before, it would consist of several people deciding on how successful actions are, but as I don’t expect a huge amount of people to sign up, nor have many of you done something like this, I’ll probably handle it myself for the first round. As the “Decision Maker,” or moderator, I may also create random acts (whether they be natural disasters or acts of terrorism) to stir things up and create some unpredictability. I am pretty fair and open minded, but I will respond as a realistically as I can. If you legalize drugs in your country, or if you declare war on a peaceful nation, expect for my own response to indicate some clear drawbacks from this.

People are free to do what they want, but for the sake of fun, try to keep it somewhat in the realm of possibility. Usually this comes into play with war. The United States probably isn’t going to declare war on Canada, nor is United States going to turn into a communist regime overnight. Also understand if you choose a smaller country, they won’t become a superpower overnight. It takes time. But overtime, things can change. If you’re smart about it, you can do just about anything in this game.

There are MANY resources if you are not familiar with a country, its military power, or its resources. Google is a big help. I personally use this website for many wonderful facts. You should use it too.

Basically, the “action summary” is a fairly simple post. You can make it really long and detailed if you like, or succinct and to the point. It breaks down in three major categories:

Economy: Control your economy. Obviously you can’t control everything, but feel free to try and guide your economy in the route you wish it to take. This is the bread and butter of your country. Without a good economy you can’t build a massive military or trade with your fellow countries. You may opt to be conservative, running a tight budget and limiting spending, or you might be economically liberal, spending on social programs and federally funded work projects. Invest in renewable energy, or don’t. Spend too much and you might suffer. Spend too little and your economy might stagnate. It’s up to you to decide. In addition, you may try to form new trade pacts and alliances with other countries (whether they are user controlled or not). There is no right or wrong way.

Policy: Typically, people use policy to state or change the way their country is running. You can implement edicts (a lot easier if you’re not a democracy). You may attempt to guide the direction of your country politically. Will you support citizen’s right to vote? Will you run a military state and risk the potential for riots? Do you support freedom of speech? Again, there is no “right” answer, but choosing what policy is best for your country has wide-spread implications on your citizens. Keep in mind, this is fictive and should not spur any sort of political debates. Countries can condemn and argue against countries making certain political actions, but ultimately this is all just a game and what people decide to do may not reflect their own political beliefs.

Military: So, do you produce more tanks? Do you dedicate more research to building stealth bombers? How will you attack your opponent? Perhaps you will carpet bomb his country to dust, or use tactical Special Forces to go in and quietly dismantle an enemy’s early warning defense systems. Perhaps you simply have a small peace keeping army. The military aspect of your country is important. What countries you may attempt to invade or defend will affect the way other countries view you and respond to you. So will you be a military genius, slowly conquering the hemisphere, or simply come to the aid of your fellow countries in need? A large portion of this section is devoted to how you wish your army/navy/air force/etc. to take form. Will you focus on making a small, mobile and elite trained ground force or bolster your air superiority?

Covert Actions:

What goes on behind closed doors? Are there things you want to do without your fellow countries seeing it? Trying to build up a secret invasion army or move troops to a country’s border without being noticed? Perhaps you feel the need to launch more spy satellites or increase the resources for your intelligence gathering agency. Maybe you send more of your spies to check on a particular country? This is where you might launch a secretive special ops mission against a country or to incite a war by framing another country for an assassination attempt. Your success here depends on the resources you devote toward building a successful covert operations infrastructure. The actions you take here might be risky but they can change the outcome of a war or even incite some countries to attack each other. Be careful though, trying to do too much or step beyond the capabilities may lead to your country's downfall, as well as your actions being revealed to other countries.

An example of a typical overt action summary for one turn. This will make up one larger post. Everyone will get to post one of these for their countries. Once everyone has done this, I will write up my own response and we will continue with this each time. This gives you plenty of time to write your post. To start, everyone will have ONE WEEK to make this post. If everyone finishes quicker, we can go faster. If you don’t submit your action summary in one week, the game will be advanced. If you continually don’t post, you will be removed from the game.

EXAMPLE OF OVERT ACTION SUMMARY:

United States of America

Economy: President Forenci helped push through new laws regarding tax reform, as well as continuing cuts on taxes for the middle class. Additionally, the U.S. has begun drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge as the nation attempts to bolster its own energy producing capabilities and seeks to completely remove itself from reliance on foreign energy. Furthermore, the president announced $15 billion dollars in the support of creating renewable energy technologies, such as solar and wind power. The U.S. has also devoted $50 billion dollars over the next three years toward research and development of new and clean energy technologies. The president also made a statement condemning coal energy, “There is no such thing as clean coal ladies and gentlemen. I have urged lawmakers in Washington to look for new technologies in energy as we as a nation begin to find other alternatives to coal technology.”

Policy: The president has begun a massive push for education reform in the U.S. The president plans to use his political support to repeal the current No Child Left Behind Act. Although more details are expected, the president plans on making sweeping reform for schools across the nation. State and local government have voiced their approval of these changes, and support the president’s repeal of the NLCB act. The president also stated upcoming plans for reform in post-secondary education, with the hopes of making college even more affordable and accessible. The president expects to reduce average state tuition by $5,000 dollars in the next year alone through a series of new laws.

Military: The United States has continued its emphasis on reshaping its military power. In new budget figures, the president is working to cut its funding back to the U.S. Navy. Many were shocked, but in a statement the president explained his reasoning, “Our world is changing. We are one of the few nations left with a large naval force. Today’s enemies no longer boast naval capabilities requiring us to maintain a massive naval fleet.” The president did go on to say it would mostly effect the production toward many naval destroyers and submarines, but the production air craft carriers would continue at current capacity.

In addition, the military has begun to ramp up its effort to become a smaller, more mobile fighting force. The Joint Chiefs have stated the necessity to be able to insert into a hostile country and fight small, guerilla style enemy combatants as the main emphasis in restructuring the U.S military. As such, the U.S. hopes to maintain its role as peacekeeper around the globe with a more highly trained and mobile force.
The U.S. military is continuing to work on its next evolution of the Abrams tank, the M1A3 Abrams. The M1A3 Abrams is a smaller, lighter, armored vehicle that will assist in the effort to mobilize the United States military.

This next example is of a covert action summary. It is PMed to me. Typically it’s much shorter than a normal, overt action summary. I will reply individually to each, so try to make it easy for me and not write an essay I must reply to. This too has a one week deadline. If you do not wish to do anything. PM me saying that.

EXAMPLE OF COVERT ACTION SUMMARY:

Covert: The CIA has continued its restructuring, as it shifts away from more human intelligence assets to spy satellites and other means of electronic espionage. The CIA believes this will result in greater awareness of the battlefield, and adapt to the changing technologies of its enemies.

The president has authorized a black operations mission to Iran. Their objectives are to infiltrate and report on Iran’s growing nuclear capability. The president has authorized the use of force to remove the countries production of nuclear capabilities if they continue to resist efforts to stop their nuclear research.

Additionally, the NSA has repositioned multiple spy satellites over Russia to monitor any military activity in the area.

Don't worry. You can be much more succinct if you don't like writing a lot. I tend to get wordy. As the game progresses, you might have less to report and say and that's perfectly fine. Remember though, the more detailed you are the better off you will be. Just saying, "The U.S. underwent some education reform" isn't going to help you much. However, it can be short but sweet.